Pentax MX-1 versus rival model with similar score

Further readings for the Pentax MX-1

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Sony’s update to the Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 includes provision for a optional EVF and a useful pull-out rear LCD, but the head line news is the inclusion of a newly developed back-illuminated Exmor R BSI-CMOS sensor with superior low-light performance. Read on to see how well the new sensor performs in our labs.

The Pentax MX-1 is a 12MP high-end compact camera with a fast 28-112mm equivalent zoom lens - the first camera of its type that Pentax has created. With a rich history in camera design, it seems fair that Pentax would seek to recapture the two-tone camera designs of the last century with its MX-1 enthusiast compact (the MX-1 is also available in an all-black model as well). A metal top and bottom and a leather-like band around the middle provide a gripable surface as well as a classic look. Thanks to the painted brass top and bottom plates, we're told users will enjoy that old tendency toward 'brassing' exhibited in well-used vintage cameras as the MX-1 accumulates wear. We haven't yet bashed the Pentax MX-1 around enough to test this feature, but there's still time.

In the compact camera market manufacturers will go a long way to make their product stand out: Carl Zeiss or Leica lenses for instance offer a certain cachet. The Samsung EX2F has several features that make you want to look closer; it has a Schneider Kreuznach lens, with an f1.4 aperture. It has built in WiFi to help you share or back-up your pictures and it is housed in a chassis of magnesium alloy. Are these things enough in this very tough market sector?

Announced this January at CES 2013, the Pentax MX-1 is Pentax’s first foray into the relatively crowded field of high-end-compact cameras. With a 12-megapixel, 1/1.7-inch backlit CMOS sensor, the Pentax MX-1 competes directly with established high-end compacts like the Canon PowerShot S110, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX7, Olympus XZ-2 iHS, and Nikon Coolpix P7700 among others, many of which have already been through multiple updates and iterations.